Our "Petite Syrah"

As I mentioned last week, Drew has had sleep issues - avoiding naps, and having difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep at night.

This past Saturday, we were out running errands and Drew conked out in his carseat. Of course this had to be on one of our first few stops - Target. So I carried him throughout the entire store. He's heavy after a while.

Luckily after shopping he slept through the transfer back into the carseat - rain hitting him and all - and Dave and I just looked at each other, wondering what we should do. We knew if we would go home, he would instantly wake up and fight the much needed sleep. So we decided to keep driving, which eventually took us to Livermore to pick up our wine shipment at Bent Creek.

As we parked the car Drew finally woke up, after sleeping nearly 90 minutes - and he was able to enjoy tasting wines with us. OK so he was savoring the "White Zin" - a.k.a. Milk, while Mommy and Daddy tasted all the new releases.

Don't feel too bad for Drew not being able to taste the wines - he managed to find a lot to do. Whether it was playing with the dirt and rocks, running around or looking at the wildlife. Drew never complains about our dragging him from winery to winery. In fact he's usually happy talking to all the people behind the counter, and flirting with the ladies. Atta boy!

On a side note, Drew is starting to improve with his sleep habits. He's still falling asleep either in our bed, or on the couch. But we're successfully moving him into his crib - where he remains all night long. (Of course I'm probably jinxing myself by writing this down...). He's still not sleeping in his pack-n-play at day care, but he is napping on his boppy downstairs where all the kids are still playing. But he's sleeping.

Could we finally be experiencing a breakthrough?

Stylin' for Church

This past Sunday was our family's turn to greet at church. So that means everyone looks extra spiffy for the morning - including Mr. Drew who was showing off his corduroy sports coat this weekend.

This little jacket was a hand-me-down from a family at church, and while it's still a tab big on him, he definitely looked pretty doggone cute in it! Oh, his hair got a little messed up while he was playing with the "wind" - otherwise known as Mommy's hair dryer.

Of course we get within 3 minutes of church and Drew decided to take a very much needed nap! So I held him at the door while we said hello to everyone as they walked in, but after about 15 minutes or so, all 22+ pounds that he weighs finally took it's toll and I had to sit down. (For the record I'm not that weak. I had to carry the dead weight of a sleeping Drew through Target the day before - so my arms were a tad bit tired already... not to mention my aching back.)

Drew still got a few smiles and comments while sleeping about how spiffy he looked - oh, and at communion too! Of course he always manages to get a chuckle out of our Pastor (a Cubs fan) when Drew says - "Go Dodgers! Yay Manny!"

Is TV Really a Bad Thing?

So I'm wondering if this is another sign our son is watching too much TV? He's known all the letters of the alphabet for a few weeks, but now he can tell us what sound it makes!

Ms. Stephanie has this Leap Frog movie for her boys (ages 3 & 2) to teach the alphabet & phonics. Well Drew LOVES it!

As I've mentioned, we use flashcards, we were recently handed down some letter fridge magnets (well dishwasher magnets in our case), and I picked up some foam letters this weekend for the bathtub. Oh, I must say the bath letters were the best purchase we made - Drew finally loves our bathtub again - after playing favorites for Ms. Stephanie's tub....

Back to my point - if we let him he'll spend hours giving us letters, and telling us that it's an "A" or his favorite the "Y". Within the past week, we've added on to the game. It's now he'll grab a letter - say "B" - and tell us "B" and make the "Buh, Buh" sound for B. "E" or any vowels, he'll make the long and short vowel sound.

For some of the letters, he'll even tell you what word starts with that letter. So he'll hand you a "T"... and say "tah, tah, tah, T-for towel". And so-on.

Seriously - is he going to be reading before the age of two? He's just a sponge, and we can barely keep up with him! It's so much fun!

And who said TV was a bad thing?

Signing Time

When Drew was about 6 or 7 months old we introduced him to Baby Einstein's "Baby's First Signs". Then some friends raved about "Signing Time", so we rented some from the library and then were hooked as well. We now own the first three videos in series one - and regularly rent others from the Library.

I can't say enough about these videos! Not only have they taught Drew to sign, but I'm convinced this is where he picked up a majority of his vocabulary. He'd say the words before he learned to sign them. Sure it kind of defeats the purpose - but hey, he learned the signs after he could speak the word. Haha

So again - from Drew's sick day on Friday I was able to catch him on video showing off all his new signs:

Animal House

Puzzles, Crayons and flashcards can keep Drew occupied for hours! He will sit there and hand you every piece from any puzzle for as long as you will allow him - or something else grabs his attention.

We have about 1/2 a dozen puzzles - alphabet, numbers, School bus and a favorite.. Noah's Ark. I managed to get some clips of him showing off the animals on the ark:

Johnny - a.k.a "The Wiggles"

I'm sure I've mentioned it before - my kid has a fascination with "The Wiggles". I swear we watch the same movie at least 2-3 times a day. Drew has always called Yellow Wiggle - Johnny. I believe because in the previous Disney Channel line-up "The Wiggles" followed "Johnny and the Sprites". Thus - Johnny followed Johnny!

Well during Drew's sick day on Friday, I had the "fortunate" pleasure of watching Johnny about 4 times in a row. LOVELY. At one point Drew was singing and dancing with the music, and then decided to have a conversation with Johnny, who was hiding amid his dance troupe:



As of this morning Drew seems to be okay - the fever is about 99.4 - which is in the teething-as-the-culprit range. He has a runny/stuffy nose, and woke up last night at 12:30 am and ended up sleeping in our bed so he could elevate himself and eliminate the gagging. Oy.....

Sick Day

Drew came home early from day care today after puking all over Ms. Stephanie. There's no clear reason yet why she was showered in vomit, but ironically Ms. Stephanie had put some Swine Flu information into Drew's bag today. (for the record it was informative stuff that all the kids got - my kid was the only one to puke though).

So I get Drew home, while he's still sleeping. But the moment we walk through the door - it's like there were alarm bells only he could hear. He was now wide awake. Despite my continued efforts to get the kid back to sleep - so Mommy could work - Drew refused.

Instead he put on quite a show that we'll spread over a few days. Here he shows off his singing skills - Old McDonald:



Tonight I took Drew's temperature right before his bath - and it was up to 100. We'll keep an eye on it. Oh, and I managed to get that temp about 2 minutes before he peed all over me. NICE!